Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a surprise return to her alma mater on Monday, picking up an honorary degree from Yale University 36 years after earning her law degree from the Ivy League school.
Graduates celebrating commencement at Yale erupted in cheers as Clinton was introduced. In keeping with Yale tradition, the names of honorary degree recipients are a closely held secret, although word began trickling out Sunday of Clinton's participation.
Clinton did speak for about five minutes during the Yale Law School's separate commencement event held in the early afternoon. There, the 60-year-old Clinton reminisced about her days at Yale, saying the law school was an "encampment for protests and frivolity" when she arrived in the fall of 1969.
She met her future husband, Bill Clinton, at the school the following year, 22 years before he was elected the nation's 42nd president.
She expressed hope that every graduate would "use every creative gene you have" in order to work "on behalf of the public good."
Clinton drew laughs from the crowd when she jokingly apologized for taking Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh "away from the law school and putting him to work in Washington." Koh was nominated by President Barack Obama to be legal adviser to the State Department, and remains a possible nominee to the US Supreme Court.
In a nod to the rough job market, Clinton also urged the new law school graduates to apply for work in the Obama administration, at the State Department and with the United States Agency for International Development.
Koh said after the law school ceremony he hoped his students learned from Clinton "what is possible to achieve in one lifetime."
"Everyone who got the honorary degrees were in these seats not that long ago," Koh said. "And you know, what they know is, they could be a mother, a lawyer and US senator, Secretary of State, presidential candidate. There's no limit. That's what they should think. There's no limit to what they can do."
Clinton spoke to Yale graduates once before, in 1991 when she gave the traditional Class Day speech, which is the major address to graduating seniors held the day before commencement. This year's Class Day address was delivered Sunday by author Christopher Buckley, a 1975 Yale graduate.
Sculptor Richard Serra, Nobel Prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John McPhee were among the others receiving honorary degrees from the university Monday.
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美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)卿希拉里?羅德姆?克林頓于本周一突然造訪母校耶魯大學(xué),并被授予耶魯大學(xué)榮譽(yù)學(xué)位。她于36年前畢業(yè)于這所“常青藤盟?!?,并獲法學(xué)學(xué)位。
當(dāng)希拉里?克林頓出現(xiàn)在耶魯大學(xué)畢業(yè)慶典上時(shí),全場(chǎng)爆發(fā)出熱情的歡呼。盡管上周日就有消息傳出希拉里將出席畢業(yè)典禮,但按照耶魯大學(xué)的傳統(tǒng),榮譽(yù)學(xué)位獲得者名單是嚴(yán)格保密的。
在當(dāng)天下午早些時(shí)候單獨(dú)舉行的耶魯法學(xué)院畢業(yè)典禮上,希拉里?克林頓做了五分鐘的演講?,F(xiàn)年60歲的希拉里?克林頓回憶了自己在耶魯大學(xué)的時(shí)光,稱(chēng)她在1969年秋季入學(xué)時(shí),法學(xué)院“是抗議和輕率舉動(dòng)的營(yíng)地”。
在入學(xué)的第二年,希拉里結(jié)識(shí)了未來(lái)的老公比爾?克林頓。22年之后他被選舉為美國(guó)第42任總統(tǒng)。
她表示,為了“代表公眾利益”工作,希望每位畢業(yè)生都可以“充分調(diào)動(dòng)自身創(chuàng)造性”。
當(dāng)希拉里?克林頓打趣地為將耶魯法學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)哈羅德?H?柯“從法學(xué)院帶到華盛頓工作”而道歉時(shí),全場(chǎng)笑聲一片。哈羅德?H?柯被美國(guó)總統(tǒng)奧巴馬任命為國(guó)務(wù)院法律顧問(wèn),并有可能被提名為美國(guó)最高法院法官。
希拉里?克林頓承認(rèn)就業(yè)市場(chǎng)不景氣,但她敦促法學(xué)院的畢業(yè)生們申請(qǐng)進(jìn)入政府、國(guó)務(wù)院以及美國(guó)國(guó)際開(kāi)發(fā)署工作。
哈羅德?H?柯表示,他希望法學(xué)院畢業(yè)典禮后,學(xué)生們可以從希拉里?克林頓身上學(xué)到“人的一生可能有什么成就。”
他說(shuō):“榮譽(yù)學(xué)位的獲得者們不久前也在這所學(xué)校讀書(shū),你知道,他們很清楚自己可以做一名母親、律師、參議員、國(guó)務(wù)卿以及總統(tǒng)候選人。他們的人生永無(wú)止境,他們應(yīng)該這樣想,自己的能力永無(wú)止境?!?/font>
希拉里·克林頓曾于1991年對(duì)耶魯大學(xué)畢業(yè)生發(fā)表過(guò)一次傳統(tǒng)的畢業(yè)紀(jì)念日演講。畢業(yè)紀(jì)念日演講是畢業(yè)典禮前一天進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)重要演講。今年的畢業(yè)日演講是上周日由1975年畢業(yè)于耶魯大學(xué)的作家克里斯多弗?巴克爾發(fā)表的。
本周一被授予耶魯大學(xué)榮譽(yù)學(xué)位的人還包括雕塑家理查德?塞拉,諾貝爾經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家托馬斯?謝林,以及普利策獎(jiǎng)得主約翰?麥克非。
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